HELENA, Mont. - The No. 24-ranked Carroll Women's Basketball team will officially start their season this weekend, taking on a pair of CCC schools as part of the Northwest Crossover Tournament in Eastern Oregon and Evergreen State.

It's been a long seven months, but the Fighting Saints (19-11, 17-5) are finally back in action. They, along with several of the top Frontier Conference teams, are in Spokane, Washington for the Northwest Crossover, battling members from the Cascade Collegiate Conference all weekend.

The NAIA released its annual Preseason Coaches' Poll, and once again the Carroll Women appear inside of the Top-25. The Saints will begin the year at No. 24 in the nation, continuing a six-year streak of appearing inside the ranks in the initial poll of the year.

Head Coach Rachelle Sayers and her staff were tasked with replacing a trio of seniors from the '25-26 NAIA Tournament squad, including two veteran forwards and multi-year starters in Isabelle Erickson, Ava Oakland and Meagan Karstetter, as well as an All-American following the graduation of leading scorer Willa Albrecht. 

The 2026-27 Saints are a very young team across the board, but not void of experience. Carroll has just two seniors on this year's roster, Ellie Denny (Fairfield, Wash.) and reigning Frontier Conference Newcomer of the Year Kenzie Allen (Grantsville, Utah), but retain five players who appeared in 25 games or more last season.

Transfer guards Avery Kraft (Helena, Mont. / R-SO) and Kennedi Niemann (Cody, Wyo. / R-JR) both appeared in all 30 games in '25-26, as did forward Gracie Millimen (Manhattan, Mont. / R-SO). All three will be relied on heavily this season, as the Saints look to replace the 30 points per game that last year's seniors left behind.

Another young Saint who will be asked to carry a heavy load this season is Jillian Kanduch (Miles City, Mont. / SO). The sophomore standout should be ready for the challenge, however, coming into the season as the reigning Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year after averaging nearly 10 points per game last season.

Maddy Moy (Kalispell, Mont. / R-JR) will see her first action as a Saint this weekend. One of the most athletic players in recent history, Moy has the ability to fill multiple roles and play a variety of positions. Due to Frontier Conference transfer rules, the former Montana Western Bulldog was forced to redshirt last season after averaging over 7.5 points per game and starting every game in her two seasons at UMW.

Joining the returners is a highly-touted group of freshmen, all hailing from the Treasure State. Makayla Coleman (Bozeman, Mont.), Annika Stergar (Billings, Mont.), Paeten Gunlock (Bigfork, Mont.), and Denvyr Tuss (Malta, Mont.) all come the Hilltop highly-decorated, with a multitude of All-State honors across a variety of sports, and will all have the opportunity to make an instant impact at Carroll.

Sayers feels confident in her young group entering the season, noting that she feels the group has more firepower from top to bottom than any other team in her 16-year tenure. 

With the new 22-game Frontier Conference regular season, little opportunities are left for non-conference scheduling. The Saints have six non-conference games on the schedule, as well as a pair of exhibitions against NCAA Division II MSU Billings and NCAA Division I Montana. Sayers stuck to the region for the non-conference slate, with six games against CCC schools (EOU, ESC, SOU, LCSC, NU, CoI).

Carroll will put their rank to the test right from the get-go, taking on an Eastern Oregon team that sits just outside of the Top-25 in the receiving votes portion of the Preseason Poll. The Saints will look to get a bit of revenge on the Mounties, who won the last meeting between the teams two years ago at the LC State Invitational. Then on Sunday, the Saints will square-off with the Geoducks of Evergreen State for the first time to wrap up the PNW showcase event.

Tip-off for both Saturday and Sunday's games are slated for 3 p.m. (MDT) at the Saint George's School gymnasium.